Perhaps it’s appropriate that this episode is coming out in time for Groundhog Day. Mainly because the episode is being presented in the reverse order in which it was recorded
3:24 – Mike gives a quick podcasting lesson and explains why the first half of the episode had to be re-recorded. The moral of the story, if using a beta version of recording services, only use it for strict experimental uses. If you’re taping a serious episode, use the most stable version available. It’ll save you a lot of headaches and time
10:48 – Mike wanted to avoid the GameStop/Reddit Army revolution on the stock markets in the past week. But Moh and Kevin were insistent on giving their conflicting financial advice. Mike and James though draw a parallel with the pranks on the 2ch and 4chan boards in the past. Within all that we hear hearthwarming stories of people trying to do good things with their profits (and a few going all in)
The main story of the first segment was a conversation about the Project Anime 2021 predictions by industry insiders and analysts (19:34)
22:07 – Sony’s “fourth pillar” and the aftermath of their acquisition of Crunchyroll. What brands will be prominant, how it’ll affect Crunchyroll’s orginals, and the likely merging of serivices
29:15 – How will being absorbed into Sony affect Crunchyroll’s originals line. And how that compares to Netflix’s originals
33:59 – Live action manga adaptations being promoted separately from their anime counterparts on their own merits. And how you doing that with Japanese manga is actually quite different from adapting North American comics (in that promoting the source material isn’t as complicated with the former as it would be the latter)
42:37 – Manga and graphic novels should continue their upward trends, especially during the pandemic. And that the picture there may not be complete. And how the anime can help manga sales
45:40 – Vtubers and the continuing popularity and evolution of virtual personas. How some of it is surprising, and how some of it wasn’t
50:39 – Anime and similar style animation now a conerstone of streaming services looking to fill up with content. And how new digital and streaming services really cater to content looking for their outlets
1:00:05 – Can we see Disney as a player in terms of anime streaming? Maybe, but more likely as productions based on their own IPs. And we look back on their past handling the Studio Ghibli library
1:04:55 – Anime productions can continue in COVID, live action productions might be more problematic
1:07:45 – On the female demographic, and the increased focus on a group that has always been there
1:12:06 – Family friendly features, and the hope that this particular point comes to improved safety technologies in anime streaming services. And how that’s necessary for these services to get to the next level of acceptance
1:14:53 – A word for Sentai Filmworks, how it’ll remain independent, and how it can navigate the immediate future. And a lamenting of the falling of North American anime’s old guard
1:17:52 – “Reboot and remake city”. How the revisit of older titles can breathe new life into their previously released works and source materials. Of course it’s not unique to anime too
1:23:58 – Recommended listening, the latest episode of the Zannen Canada Podcast. Another angle on the Crunchyroll acquisition and how that’ll go with Canadian regulators, and their thoughts on its distant future
1:27:22 – Promo: Skeleton House Podcast
The bullets segment begins in the immediate aftermath of losing Kevin’s audio file from the original taping of the first segment.
1:30:45 – The light novels for Redo of Healer still looking for an English release after being refused by one publisher. A thought on titles that have faced pull backs in the past. And how this interesting considering we’re talking written words as opposed to pictures, and a tangent on other forms of content distribution
1:42:33 – Toei Animation refusing to talk to a union negotiator who’s a member of the LGBT community. Which leads to a quick debate on systemic discrimination issues in Japan, and the not so black and white treatment of LGBT people in both Japan and in the west
1:59:01 – Japanese politicans behaving badly in pandemic times, which leads to the obligatory COVID in Canada update
2:09:01 – You think there would be an orderly lineup for PS5s in Tokyo?
2:11:21 – Megumi Hayashibara’s memoir coming to Yen Press. The table looks back on the legendary voice actress’s career, her longevity, and if there’s anyone similar to her in more recent times
Then we end the episode with the return of the Anime Roundtable Community Calendar
2:17:16 – NHK World Songs of Tokyo Festival 2020 (VOD expired)
2:19:11 – The Japan Foundation Film Festival Plus online comes to Canada beginning February 5th
2:20:55 – The Japan Foundation New York series on Academic Perspectives on Japanese Pop Culture continues with this month’s talk on Sailor Moon (in celebration of 30 years of the manga)
2:22:22 – Discotek’s World Premier of the Memories English dub on February 6th on their Twitch channel
And Finally…
2:23:40 – Kevin goes an a rant about Kodansha USA holding back licenses from physical print editions and keeping most digital exclusive
This week’s drinking game: Take a shot everytime you hear the words, “To the Moon”. You’ll be pass out pretty quick. Although probably not as fast as the draining of Moh’s trading account
Mike Nicolas, James Austin, Kevin Ng, Mohamed Sharmarke, Geoff Greig
Links of Interest to Come
*Intro Music provided by Scott Holmes Music*
Anime Roundtable 